damned_institute | Day 38: Patients' Library

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Day 38: Patients' Library

The intercom rang out, disrupting what had turned out to be a rather pointless breakfast conversation, at least in Brainiac 5's eyes. He couldn't wait to put more distance between himself and Scar's blather of how logic, of all things, might not work the same way in this dimension. It was almost enough to make him believe that the man may very well have been a lion originally after all, as he'd never heard anything so very... ignorant and uneducated.

He quickly finished up the fruit he'd been nibbling on - he was no longer as hungry as he had been - and looked around automatically to see where Clark was. Unfortunately with the press of people around, some being led off to the library and others to the mentioned 'therapy sessions' - if that was what they really were - he had lost sight of the Kryptonian. Still there wasn't many places he could go, so Brainiac 5 would be able to catch up with him eventually to check on his condition and try and learn more about what had happened last night. That the Chapel had healed him - admittedly by passing his injuries to another - was interesting, but far more important in his eyes was what had happened to Clark and his powers. They hadn't been working correctly and that worried the Coluan boy more than he would normally have admitted. Without Clark's abilities... he wasn't sure what they would have to rely on in order to escape.

Another problem he would have to deal with was Grell... or, if he was to believe the notes on the bulletin board, the person pretending to be Grell. But that was going to require more careful planning before he made a move. Come to think of it, he had agreed to meet another in the library today on that same post that had sparked this whole mess. At least then he would have something of interest to look forward to, as he doubted any of the 21st century books were likely to be worthwhile to someone of his advanced intellect.

Following the nurses led him to what must have been the library; a reasonably large room filled with a range of archaic books on tall shelves, a few tables and chairs interspersed around the room. The Coluan boy couldn't refrain from wrinkling his nose in distaste as he entered the room, not liking the cumbersome books and the dust that he knew would have gathered on them; he much preferred the clean arrangement of his C.O.M.P.U.T.O. systems back in the Legion headquarters. It was much more practical then shelves and shelves of books on fictional worlds and dated information.

Trying to avoid as much of the room as possible, Brainiac 5 settled himself down on a chair to wait, keeping an eye out for a tall, dark-haired man with a red... something on his forehead.

[for Homura]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

By an ironic twist, the prior-Digimon had found herself in a sort of children's section; complete with books of fairy tales. She idly eased one off the shelf. Aesop's Fables. The page she turned to showed a fox outsmarting a crow--'My good Crow, your voice is right enough, but your wit is wanting.' Renamon smirked to herself.

Her head tilted as she heard and felt Jiraiya moving towards her. "We do," she agreed. "How is your student?"

Ah, the children's section. The least likely place his books would be. Unless some prankster reshelved them here, in which case some poor kid was about ready to get an impromptu lesson on the flexibility of human anatomy. ... Maybe it was a good thing he hadn't seen a lot of young children around. And his books probably weren't here, anyways.

"He's bounced back pretty quickly," Jiraiya smiled fondly. "Back to his loud self."

He then frowned a little. ".. but we could only seal the device they put in his eyes in place, not remove it. We don't know what it'll do to him, yet. He'll probably still need time to process what happened, but I left him in a good mood. The kid's got a strong will, and he's one of the most stubborn people I've ever met--he'll survive."

Jiraiya continued frowning, but this time in concern instead of thought. "Did everyone make it out all right?"

Renamon cocked her head, attempting to follow. It seemed that Jiraiya forgot that she came in on the end of things, and Renamon wasn't sure at all what happened. Jiraiya using the word 'they' could only mean experiments, and that was something horrible in itself, let alone on children. And last night, they took Yukari for special counseling, too. Too many were being harmed that shouldn't be.

And the man was talking more than usual. That showed he was more upset than he let on. She looked at him carefully. "I'm assuming so. The night ended rather quickly for us after you left. We downed one of the spiders, and the dark haired boy was going after the other." She paused, then continued, switching subjects. "Do you know what the devices in his eyes do?"

"Uchiha Sasuke," Jiraiya nodded. "He's Naruto's former teammate. Sasuke says he doesn't care anymore, but he came to rescue Naruto."

Of course he was still worried about Naruto, as the boy was more in denial than anything else at the moment. And Jiraiya had been unable to protect him. The way Naruto clung to him still unnerved him, because Naruto had never done anything like that before--he never needed comfort that badly.

"We don't know what the devices will do," Jiraiya stated with a shake of his head, crossing his arms. "Unlike Sasuke's, his implants aren't intended to cause blindness." Jiraiya cursed a little at that, letting some of the false cheer he thought was real until a moment ago dissipate, and then frustration slowly crept into his voice. "... Sakura couldn't remove them, either. We can only wait until they activate somehow to find out what they do to him."

Such was the state of Jiraiya's worry that he didn't even rationalize that Renamon probably needed more information, having not been there until they had almost rescued Naruto.

"Hm," was her only response as she folded her arms and closed her eyes, silent. She understood the basics, so really the only thing to say, whether it was wanted or not was...

"There's nothing you can do until you find out what exactly the effects of the implants are. There's no use becoming more upset over something you cannot affect at the current time."

"Upset?" Jiraiya almost took offense at that; then he hesitated for a moment and sighed, uncrossing his arms. "... It's more like frustration. I'm not used to being unable to do anything."

It was the truth, plain and simple. Jiraiya was one of Konoha's strongest ninjas, but here, he couldn't even protect Naruto. Although it would have been significantly less likely for Naruto to need protecting if he had his abilities.

And then, an odd expression came over Jiraiya's face, his voice growing quieter, "... I've never seen him like that before, Renamon. He fell asleep in my arms like a young child half his age. He's never needed me like that before."

Renamon was slightly startled. She was used to an air of distance, even while protecting her charges, and the last two sentences from Jiraiya showed that he was open to her, that she was something. That their comradery wasn't just of a business nature.

She wasn't sure how she thought of that yet.

"I've experienced it before. Utter helplessness. Being unable to do anything--unable to protect the person most precious to you." Nothing changed externally as she said this. Letting Rika down... was something she had done a life ago. The pain and fear was still there--yes, and frustration, too, but she was never a creature to allow emotions to rule her. She would move forward.

"But it doesn't change the fact. The children here seem to be higher targets, at least that I've noticed. They need to be protected, and Landel makes it difficult; stealing them from their rooms when we can't even be there." Obviously she was both refering to Yukari and Naruto. But Jiraiya couldn't know that. "One of my charges was taken last night, too. For special counseling." She shook her head. "Which is why we must work harder to understand this place. So none will fall."

It was still surprising how well Renamon could read him even though they had known each other for only a few days. For not being used to human emotions, Renamon understood them well. In many ways, it was a relief--especially since he could trust her to keep discussions like this private.

She, too had felt helpless once. Even if she was hiding her emotions, because she was merely mentioning it had happened to her, Jiraiya knew she was still affected by whatever had happened. He wanted to know more but, at the same time, didn't dare to ask.

Renamon explained how one of her precious people had been taken last night, and Jiraiya's eyes widened a little. Her too? The fact she knew what had happened to her charge meant that she had met her charge in that state, and the fact she had helped them protect Naruto afterwards meant that Renamon had won the fight.

Jiraiya understood what that felt like. The one time he and Naruto experimented with Naruto's seal, Kyuubi's chakra had overwhelmed the boy. It had forced a fight--a fight that nearly killed Jiraiya--and Jiraiya had barely managed to stop the outflow of chakra before Naruto was uncontrollable.

"We must," Jiraiya agreed with Renamon. "They're toying with us, trying to break our spirits, either for their own amusement or to nullify us as a threat."

His eyes softened after a moment, and he smiled sadly to Renamon, "I know what it feels like, to be forced into a fight like that. I was trying something with Naruto to give him more access to his hidden power, but something went wrong." Jiraiya paused for a moment, considering how to word what he wanted to say without mentioning Kyuubi. "But the amount of chakra was too much for his mind to handle. He nearly killed me before I managed to seal it back away."

Renamon was an analytical being. She had perserved against Yukari for the sole reason of being able to shut down the things that defined her as a person, and for those moments, exist solely as a weapon. She had been forced in many fights like that; those situations weren't new to her. You simply went forward, did what you had to, and repair the damage afterward.

She shook her head a little. She did not want to start thinking about Impmon. "I'm almost used to situations like that. This one was... suprising, however."

She took a breath, then slid back to her normal state. "Break out spirits seems likely. Since we last had a chance to talk, I've met the acquaintence of a man named Mello. He's highly intelligent, and has more than enough to offer in insight and facts, and is a valuable ally. We've been working together the past couple of days.

"But we were just touching on the point of the disappearences today. The majority of the ones that simply vanish go through a severe crisis in the time before--ones that are close dying, experimentation, the list goes on--so it would be safe to say that everything that happens to us here is perfectly planned."

"Such is the life of a ninja as well," Jiraiya stated, understanding somewhat where Renamon was coming from. "The mission goes before all else."

He listened to her talk about theory, and nodded from time to time as he listened. The ideas were sound, anyways. Although he didn't like the implications.

"So they break our spirits until the cannot be broken anymore, then discard us like trash," Jiraiya summarized out loud. "It'd make sense, if they got some sort of energy from our emotions, particularly the negative ones, then get rid of them when they see no more use in them. Sometimes, they even bring people back."

He crossed his arms in thought. "Experiments and Special Counseling provide opportunities to mess with our emotions by hurting those that we care about, or forcing us to hurt them. And when someone close to you is taken, it's almost impossible not to feel something. Even if you block it out for a while, it'll come back to haunt you later."

Another moment of thought, and then, "Naruto and I appeared the same day, and then Kakashi and Sakura appeared here soon after that. If they thrive on emotions, it makes more sense to take multiple people from the same world."

Suddenly, an idea occurred to him, one that made him frown all the harder. "... It also makes sense to take children--the younger, the more emotional--but there would be a limit to how young of children they'd bring in. Younger children break faster, and wouldn't have much of a 'lifespan' in this place, except for some exceptions--either from breaking too quickly or getting killed by a monster. Which would explain why there aren't a lot of young children here. There doesn't seem to be an upper limit to patients' ages, but there definitely seems to be some lower limit. Unless they've taken small children, too, and they're simply someplace else entirely that's still threatening but doesn't immediately break them. It's possible there are other 'Institutes' like this out there."

Jiraiya decided thinking out loud was the best choice for that one--Renamon didn't mention anything about that in their theories before. It was something to consider, and he wanted her input.

[....0_0 I hate LJ. It ate my long post. Goddamnit.]

What Jiraiya was saying was perfectly in line with her own thoughts, and she nodded along. Nothing more needed to be said on that. The line about other Institutes, however, wasn't something she had considered. But it would waste focus if they spent too much time thinking about it. "Regardless of the possibility, the fact doesn't give us anything or hinder us more. It's possible that that is where the visitors come from. But I would rather focus on this Institute."

The rehashing of ideas would normally be welcomed; analyzing until something new appeared out of the turmoil. But after not being able to... do anything for Yukari, Renamon didn't want to be reminded of more of her failures. For the time that she had been here, she understood very little of how it actually worked. A handful of theories and ideas was worthless.

And then there was the matter of Jiraiya. The man needed to be cheered up, or at the very least, distracted. She bent over to replace the book in her hands, saying in a delibrate offhand tone, "So how does one come by the nickname 'Ero-Sennin'?"

He agreed with focusing on their own problem--if there was another place like this, there was nothing they could do to help those who were trapped there. All they could do was help those close to them. The others, if they even existed, were far out of range.

It was the sudden change of subject that took Jiraiya by surprise. He had expected to continue bouncing ideas off of each other, but Renamon had other ideas. Maybe she knew that Jiraiya didn't really feel into it at the moment. Or maybe she was just a brat.

Either way, Jiraiya replied with a nervous laugh, "It's a long story. Naruto coined it within minutes of meeting me. He's an uhhh.. unique child."

He was well aware that she unfortunately knew exactly what 'Ero' meant. And she knew about his adult books, to some extent. What Jiraiya didn't know was how was how she would react to learning more. Then again, she was a Digimon, and Digimon didn't have sex, so maybe it wasn't as big as an issue as it could be.

"It was soon after he recognized my novel," Jiraiya grinned a bit more. "And he never stopped calling me that, even after I told him my name. 'Ero-Sennin' grew on me after a while. Only Naruto calls me that."

Luckily, Jiraiya knew much better than to mention the exact nature of his novels just yet, or the fact he also got the nickname because he had been staring into the women's side of the hot springs when Naruto first saw him. If Renamon knew about that, her protective nature of others would likely cause her to rip his balls right off. Or break a few ribs. Or any sort of dozens of horrible, painful things she could do to his male anatomy.

"He's a loud child," Renamon replied bluntly. "I hear him every morning. He's very excited."

And here lead to another point that she was curious on. It was plain that he wrote books from his conversation with Kakashi ~~which also had other interesting points~~, but she had no idea what he wrote about. And for one to coin a name from a book....

Her brow furrowed a little as she considered that. "And how would one," she started, keeping her formal tone, "come by that nickname?" Her voice slid from formal to something else--not quite relaxed, but perhaps something close. She cocked an eyebrow. "What exactly was your novel about?"

Jiraiya actually laughed at the blunt reply. "He's definitely excitable. But you get used to it after a while."

The questions would have to be answered carefully, else Renamon might react badly. At the same time, he didn't want to lie to her, but to tell her the full truth now (of him being a pervert) would spell disaster. Oh, and she'd probably mortally wound him, too.

"Adult relationships," Jiraiya grinned. "And the drama that comes with them. It had adult situations--I was writing adult characters, so it's only natural that they occur--so it wasn't for kids. Naruto must have thought it only contained adult situations of the sexual variety--even though that's only a small part of being an adult, and not all adults are interested in it." Mild irritation was obvious even through his smile. "But it was a lot more than that. Many of the characters were ninja, after all. And ninjas are used to dangerous situations."

Part of him felt bad lying to Renamon, but she wasn't ready for the full truth yet. And Jiraiya wasn't exactly ready to die.

He grinned a bit nervously. "There's... other reasons why he calls me that, too, but that's something between me and Naruto."

"Hm," was her only reply, giving away nothing of what she thought on the matter. Renamon's human interactions--pleasant ones, at least--were only with children that hadn't even started getting interested in the 'adult situations' Jiraiya was referring to. She was resourceful on the human world at large; she had to protect Rika, after all, and one of the things that she would have to protect a young girl from would be sexual predators.

Dangerous situations with ninja, however, were more interesting to her, a natural born and bred fighter. She still remained quiet though; her silence as teasing as any words she could say.

"Hm," she said again, making it seem like she was considering something. "Perhaps then I should talk to Naruto."

Jiraiya's eyes widened a bit when she said she might talk to Naruto. His student had no idea how to be subtle! If Naruto said the wrong thing, they could both end up dead!

He caught his reaction quickly enough and then tried to laugh it off. "Ah, that's old news and pretty boring, so he might fall asleep on you if you started talking asking about that right away...."

Well, it was true that Naruto found his book boring, at least. The sequence of events that lead to Naruto calling him Ero-Sennin was not exactly one that Renamon should know just yet, if ever. She seemed very proper about certain things, and peeking in on the women's hot springs was anything but that.

Ah, Naruto! He could talk about Naruto!

"I did want to introduce you to him tonight, though, if possible," Jiraiya added almost hastily. "He's a good kid, and he's interested in meeting you, so..."

Her plan had came full circle, and it seemed to have worked. The man wasn't giving off an air of worry and frustration any more, and was simply concerned with not digging himself into a deeper hole. Perfect.

Unable to control it, Renamon laughed, bell-like, bringing a hand to cover her mouth. Flustering the man was so easy. Leaving her hand there, she smiled. "I'd like that. He probably needs a distraction after last night, and running errands is bland enough that he won't get into more trouble while keeping him preoccupied."

Renamon was laughing. Renamon was laughing at him. Jiraiya stared at her in awe, having not heard her laugh like that before, and not quite registering how his heart warmed at the noise.

"He might still end up going with his team, but he could probably use a distraction for a few minutes--" Jiraiya began to reply, then stopped abruptly.

Wait a minute. Wait just one damn minute. His eyes widened for a moment, and then Jiraiya was grinning.

"Speaking of distractions," he almost purred. "That was one just now, wasn't it?"

Jiraiya's now better mood didn't evaporate, though--it only grew. The only purpose for such a distraction would have been to distract him from worrying about Naruto. And it had worked. He had unconsciously let his guard down around her again, and she had been able to take swift advantage of it. Oh, she was a sneaky one--truly part fox.

It also meant that Renamon cared. Which was something, Jiraiya realized, that he surprisingly needed.

He also didn't need to hear her answer--he already knew it.

"You... are a brat," Jiraiya grinned wider. "I think I like you."

"Perhaps," she said in response, her voice still holding a smile. "You catch on quick... 'Ero-Sennin'."

With a smirk, Renamon passed the man to walk into the next aisle, half intent on finding something interesting to read, half fully amused by the situation at hand. "That's good. I enjoy your company."

Sliding around the corner, she glanced backwards. "Though... a brat, Jiraiya? Surely you think better of me than that?"

Theories and information were well and good, but sometimes even the stoic Digimon needed to have fun and relax.

"Wouldn't be as old as I am if I didn't," Jiraiya smirked, although part of him silently prayed that she wouldn't start always referring to him by 'Ero-Sennin'--that was Naruto's nickname for him, and having a woman use it always made him worry that he was about ready to get the life beaten out of him for sexual harrassment.

When she moved to the next isle, he followed, enjoying the view. His heart didn't flutter at the words enjoy your company or something equally girly, but his step lightened a bit more. Jiraiya just smiled at her when she looked back at him.

"What, you can tease me, but I can't tease you?" Jiraiya failed to hide his amusemeny, furrowing his eyebrows as he put his hands on his hips, a smile tugging at his frown. "Now that hardly seems fair...."

"Ah, so you admit you are old. What exactly is your real age?" she teased.

This aisle seemed to be classics, and her attention waned. She put a hand out to trail across the spines as she continued walking, a long legged loose stride. "I tease you?" she asked in mock surprise. "Never."

She glanced back again, the smile in her eyes. "But you don't," she continued. "Think better of me?"

"I'm old enough to lie about it," Jiraiya grinned--oh, he'd probably tell her his age eventually, but he was going to have to make her work a little for it. "Oh, you don't? Maybe I'm finally old enough for senility to kick in. I must be seeing things."

He shrugged innocently at her last question, then brought a hand up to his chin as he pretended to ponder the universe very seriously. "Hmm. I was thinking you could have been an kunoichi in another life."

"Maybe you are, old man," she continued before stopping in the aisle and bringing a hand to her chin. "So you admit you're a liar and senile. Maybe you fit the stereotype, and are a pervert like your student says as well."

She paused a moment to make him sweat, before closing her eyes with a smile. Too easy to make him upset. "A female ninja, hmm. I most likely have the movement down. You should see me throw diamond shards. I'm a bit more accurate than with medical scalpels."

Jiraiya actually DID sweat. Massively. Until he realized she was only teasing and still had no idea just how extremely very ultimately close she was to the truth.

"I only said 'maybe'," Jiraiya protested feebily after he realized he was still in the clear, mostly joking in his reaction now. "I can't even get discounts yet!"

"You do have the movement down, and the intrigue," but the diamond comment made him blink, then laugh. "Throwing diamond shards? That sounds both painful and expensive."

Jiraiya figured it was some sort of technique almost immediately, but he joked about it anyways. It was nice to be able to do that with a woman and not get immediately labeled a pervert. He didn't even have to force himself to behave, as Renamon always provided intelligent conversation that prevented his mind from roaming too far.

"You admitted you were a liar. So I can't believe that you're not that old. Unless you'd care to enlighten me otherwise?" she asked innocently.

"Expensive, no. They're made from my energy, to simplify. But painful... yes. Extremely." Her grin had a bit of a bite to it this time, as she remembered good fights she had had. "But I digress. Intrigue? Please go on."

Renamon smiled again, thinking offhand that she hadn't smiled this much in... days. Maybe even more.

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